Hunted in the Public's Eye
by peanut0565
Summary: The company is after Nathan Petrelli, can he escape on his own, or does he need help from his little brother?  The only one who seems to at least understand the situation presented before the congressman.
1. Chapter 1

He could not begin to comprehend what on earth was going on. One minute he was laying next to this beautiful blonde woman, who did not make him feel guilty for once in the last six months, and if he ever got back to New York City in one piece he would feel horrible about what he had done. Then the next moment he was being pushed through the hotel by a tall man in horn rimmed glasses and an even taller black man.

He questioned first, then offered them money, anything to let him go. Having a gun pointed at you was one thing he thought he'd never have to deal with after being done with the navy. Even through those years, there was only one gun that was pointed at him, and that was after he had crash landed in Bosnia. That was an experience he wanted to forget with all his heart and mind. The mere thought of it caused a chill to run down his spine.

Nathan saw the black SUV the two men seemed to be pushing him towards. He needed to get away, now. Then his opportunity came. The man holding the gun, his cell phone rang, causing him to look down.

Nathan quickly turned and kicked upward, knocking the man away from him, stunned. He then gave a push towards the haitian and started to run from the parking lot.

"Stop Mr. Petrelli!" HRG yelled, Nathan kept running as fast as he could.

Bang.

The man actually was shooting at him, and no less hit him. He felt the bullet drive into his right shoulder blade. He let out a cry as the force of it and his own momentum brought him to the ground. The bullet nearly got through the shoulderblade, and was now lodged between that bone and his right lung, making breathing rather difficult.

"I warned you." He heard the man growl, as Natahn gasped from suprise and agony. He could feel blood tricking down his back as he struggled to his feet.

"Take him out." The man said, presumably towards the accomplice. Nathan Petrelli though, was a man not to be dealt with. If they truely knew him well, they would have realized his naval training prepared him for situations much like this.

The congressman eyed up the tall black man as he advanced. That was when the congressman fought back, sending a hook with his left arm towards the Haitian. Square hit in the cheek. He smirked slightly as he sent one of the assailants backwards. He turned to the man in horn rimmed glasses, and saw the gun was once again trained on him.

He ran through his options, then finally decided on the one that would be best suited. He arched his knees, bending down slightly, exchanging eye contact between his kidnappers. He could not believe he was actually going to do this. Take off infront of two strangers! But then again his life was actually at stake here. Couldn't win an election while being dead.

He then mustered all the strength he could and launched himself into the air, rising to five hundred feet above the ground in merely seconds. He didn't pause at that, he merely turned towards New York City and jetisoned off towards it.

Peter. He would help. He was always there to back Nathan up when things got really tough. When the accident happened, He was there, helping the couple cope with Heidi's disability. He was going to help Nathan put Linderman away. He was there when dad died.

Flying was not the best idea though for someone with a bullet in them. He barely got to New York City, and that was with taking three pit stops to catch his breathe for a minute or two. The downside about flying with that type of injury was he could barely breath, that was why he had to stop three times in the first place. The upside though was at the speed he was going he seemed to momentarily put a stop to the bleeding which because of having to stopped now had covered half of his back in the sticky red liquid.

He finally found Peter's apartment, and quite literally dropped onto the roof. He landed with a hard thud on his butt which lead to him falling backwards onto his back. He cried in agony, wrapping his arm around himself to reach the wound he had acquired. He rolled onto his stomach and let the shock of his landing pass, and to regain a somewhat normal paced breathing pattern.

He coughed as he struggled to his feet and staggered to the door that led into the building. Thankfully Peter was only a level down from the roof, Nathan knew he would not be able to hold out much longer; It had been nearly two hours since he had been shot. Even though the flying did stunt his bleeding, it took alot of his strength.

After what seemed like an eternity he made it down the steps, into the empty hall, and was now standing infront of Peters' door. He knocked feverishly, feeling his legs starting to give way underneath him. Finally Peter answered, opening the door, and stopping in mid greeting to gap at his brother's condition.

Nathan gasped, but managed to smile weakly. His color was draining from him as quickly as the color from Peter's color was draining from him. What other reaction would Nathan expect from his little brother?

The elder one just showing up randomly, in nothing but a pair of blue pajama pants. And even worse, he looked worn tired, and specks of blood could be seen even from the frontal view. He looked deathly ill.

"Peter..." Nathan said with a raspy voice, his legs finally giving in on him and his eyes closed with them. The last thing he remembered was a pair of strong arms catching him, a peak shot of agony localizing where the bullet had entered his body, and his little brother calling out his name. How he'd love to answer, if he could, but the darkness was far to welcoming.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Author's Note:**__ sorry totally forgot to state I own nothing you Recognize. ;.; _

_XD anyways, If you haven't figured it out already this story is an AU Nathan and Peter centric, in a brotherly love way not slash. Anywho it's one of those 'What if' theories I am exploring. Takes place in that episode where the company nearly got Nathan in Vegas. XD_

_Thanks __**ShaolinQueen **__for your kind words, their much appreciated XD, glad you're enjoying it._

_ENJOY! and please give me feedback._

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The next thing he recalled was a dull throbbing of his shoulder. He could not prevent himself from emitting a low groan as he opened his eyes slowly. He searched his surroundings with his eyes, finding he was now flat on his back, presumably on a bed.

The area though did not quite feel like a hospital. He figured if he went to his brother, Peter in turn would take him to the hospital, but that seemed not to be the case. He then saw a pole that was holding a bag of saline, an IV, and a bag of O- blood. If He was not in a hospital room, how on earth did the bag of blood get there. It was only after that he noticed the IV was connected to the top part of his right hand, as well as another cord connected the hand to the bag of blood. He also felt a cord running across his face, connected to his nose.

After as thorough inspection that he could do with laying down and not moving he decided to try and sit up a little, to get a better view. He shrugged, digging his elbows into the mattress and starting to push his back up. A dizzy spell hit him, causing him to fall back, head hitting the pillow. He winced.

"You shouldn't be moving." He heard a male voice call out from the other side of the room, Peter. Within a second he found his younger brother peering over him, a stethascope around his neck.

"Why didn't you take me to the ER?" He asked, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion and fatigue. Peter sighed, pulling the scope from around his neck and placing it in his ears.

He would have made a fantastic doctor.

"How was I going to explain you being shot, and not being in Las Vegas?" Peter answered with another question, a hypothetical one. He then pulled back the covers slightly to get a better view of what he was doing. Nathan was still in the same cloths as when he arrived. Peter then gently and slowly pulled Nathan into a sitting up position. The elder brother groaned in the process, he felt weak and sick to the stomach.

Peter leaned Nathans' head against his right shoulder as he placed the the cold metal circle on his bare back. Nathan shivered in response, causing him to cough twice.

"Deep breath, Nathan." Peter ordered calmly, concentrating only on the process he was performing and not actually on the fact it was his very own blood he was treating. The congressman obeyed, taking a deep breath, but it was stunted by coughing. Peter pulled the scope away from Nathans' back and started to rub it gently, and continued until his older brother stopped coughing.

The examination of that particular area stopped as Peter pulled the scope away from himself and set it on the bed. He kept Nathan sitting up right though, knowing he was not going to last much longer. His energy was dwindling.

Nathan felt prodding where his wound was, wincing as Peter checked the bandages. After a moment he felt himself being placed back into a laying down position. He saw the concern in his younger brother's eyes as he found the face again. He smiled weakly in return.

"How long have I been out?" Nathan asked. "12 hours." Peter replied with a short answer. "Does anyone else know?" The congressman asked another question. "Ma, I called her to ask her what I should do. She's one of the main reasons why I haven't taken you to the emergency room. Though Ma did pull some strings to get me the supplies I needed to take care of you." Peter answered. Nathan glanced down for a second then looked up as soon as Peter continued. "Heidi knows too. I couldn't leave her in the dark. She'll be by shortly to see you." He finished.

"What time is it?" Nathan asked. "7:53 AM." Nathan was starting to put the pieces together. He knew Heidi wouldn't want to frighten the boys, and probably was coming right after they left for school.

Peter turned away then, his eyes jerking to an unknown distraction. Nathan stared at him perplexed. "What?" He asked as Peter stood up and moved out of the room. "Peter, What is it?" He called out, but his voice didn't care as far. It sounded weak and tired. He heard a door open and decided to remain silent. Apparently he didn't hear the knocking on the door.

"Yea, He's in here." He heard Peter say, and started to get a bit apphrensive. Why agitated, he did not know. Probably still a bit tense from the attemptive kidnapping, making him edgy for anything and everything. He started struggling to peer through the the open doorway, to see who was at the door. He only saw the back of Peter talking to someone.

He gasped at the agitation of his wound and fell back unceremoniously. He let out a small cry of pain as his head hit the pillow and shutting his eyes tightly. He paused then for a moment, awaiting something to happen.

"Nathan?" A female voice called his name, it was filled with concern and worry, it was Heidi. Natahn let out a breath that hadn't realized he was holding. It turned into a painful cough, like with the stethascope.

As it ended he was winded, and he felt fingers interlaced with his own. He opened his eyes then a little, just enough to see his wife bring his hand up to her lips and kissing it gently. Tears rolling slowly down her cheeks.

"Heidi..." He sighed heavily, wanting nothing more then to sit up, embrace her, and tell her everything was fine. Obviously it wasn't, he had been shot, and nearly kidnapped. The latter the rest of them didn't know.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Author's Note: **__Thanks for the continual support, its much welcomed. Please Enjoy this update XD_

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"What happened..." Heidi asked her husband. Nathan sighed heavily, thinking carefully what he was about to say.

"I had just met with Linderman that morning..." He started with a lie. He didn't want his wife to know he was actually having sex with a woman he had meet the night before. "The two guys jumped me...trying to kidnap me...or something." He shook his head slightly, trying to recall the thoughts. "I ran...they shot..." He quieted down a bit. Should he really tell Heidi that he could fly?

Fortunatly, or rather unfortunatly, Peter came in with a sketchbook in his hands and held it out to Heidi when Nathan quieted down. "Look at it." Peter insisted as he hovered over her. Nathan watched the two curiously. He was in the middle of what happened and Peter wanted to show Heidi some drawing.

He watched as Heidi's expression dropped, her eyes widened in shock. Nathan raised his own eyebrow in confusion. "What is it?" He asked innocently. Peter glanced at him then down at Heidi, who revealed the drawing.

It was a comic book style drawing, with several boxes. Each picture depicting what had happened to Nathan the day before. His eyes widened in shock as every detail was exact, starting thankfully from when he was being pushed to the black SUV.

"What the hell?" He exclaimed in astonishment. He then eyed up Peter. "When did you draw this?!" Nathan demanded.

"Four days ago. If I knew I was drawing the future, I would have done something. But I didn't realize." Peter explained, gesturing with his hands almost frantically.

"You can draw the future?!" Heidi spoke up this time, cut away from her trance. She stared at Peter with wide eyes, then turned to Nathan. "You can fly?!" She exclaimed, her expression of pure shock and fear? Nathan closed his eyes and nodded a little.

Nathan took the sketchbook then and flipped through the pages until it came up blank. Everything was there from the first attemptive escape from the man in horn rimmed glasses and the haitian, to the shot, and the flying. Even when he arrived at Peter's apartment, it was all here. It even had this conversation, the revealing of the sketchbook to Heidi and himself. He tried to get his mind around this, but it was beginning to be too much, and the exhaustion was starting to affect him.

He found the pages ended after the conversation, after him passing out. "Is there more?" He asked quietly. Peter shook his head. Nathan sighed heavily closing the book, and setting it on the bed next to him. The next second the fatigue finally won out, and he was asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Author's Note:**__ and the plot thickens... XD_

_Thanks padfoot-rawr, superlc529, and shaolinqueen._

_ENJOY!_

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The next time he awoke the room was much darker. There was a dim light radiating softly to his right as he brought his hands to his eyes and began to rub them. He felt alot better then the first time he had came to. The pain in his back was nearly gone, only a mere ache now. That would probably change if he tried to move. He had more strength this time around too.

"Peter? Heidi?" He called out, his voice had more strength behind it as well. He dug his elbows into the mattress and began to pull himself into a sitting position. Aside from a twinge of pain from his shoulder blade there wasn't much more. He was relieved at the fact that he could actually do this on his own now.

"Heidi went home hours ago." Peter answered, as Natahn finally laid eyes on his younger brother. He was in the chair furthest from him, in the corner, sketchbook in one hand and pencil in the other.

"I'm going home." Nathan said starting to move towards the edge of the bed, swinging his feet over the edge. Peter was on his feet in an instant, looking alarmed.

"No you aren't ready yet." He said rushing over to him as Nathan tried to get to his feet but fell back onto the bed from a dizzy spell. Stood up too fast, He rationalized. He then felt hands on his shoulders, and he looked up to find Peter staring at him concerningly.

"I need to be with my family. Simon and Monty haven't seen me in days! And the election!" He growled with anger. He missed his boys, and his wife. The election was the last thing on his mind, but it couldn't help adding it to his list of reasons to go home.

"I'll let you go if you can take a deep breath without coughing." Peter said, standing his ground. Nathan inhaled deeply, but exhaling didn't go quite as planned. He started to choke, and cough, his arm instinctively raising to his chest pressing onto his chest, parallel to the area where on his back the gunshot was.

He felt his brother envelope him in an embrace, rubbing his back like he had done before. Nathan could do nothing except ride the painful hacking session out. Once again he was winded and aching again, the constant gnawing of pain beginning to creep back into the edges of his mind. With each breath he felt a hissing sound from his right lung, and felt it as well. The whole situation was uncomfortable.

"How were you able to draw the future?" He finally spoke up, asking a random question. Peter helped him bac onto the bed, into a laying down position.

"You know Isaac Mendez?" Peter asked, knowing he did. "Yea, he's dating the girl your pinning over." Nathan replied softly. "He can paint the future, I ran into him twice and Now I can do it as well." Peter explained to the best of his knowledge. Nathan silently breathed an 'Oh.'

"I've been trying to do it again, but I don't know how to access it." Peter sighed in frustration, picking up the leather bound sketchpad once more. He flipped it open and showed his recent excercises on the paper to his older brother.

"Maybe its' the future and you didn't realize it? You did push off the ones from before until they actually happened." Nathan suggested. He stopped at one particular picture and turned his head slightly to get a better view of it.

"Is that us?" He asked pointing to the two figures huddled against each other in what seemed to be a corner. There was a shadow casted over the two figures, only the faint outlines of the features showed through. The shadow was in a form of a man?

Peter hovered over his shoulder to see what Nathan was pointing out. "I don't remember drawing that." He said quietly astonished. It took up the entire 8x11 page of paper. He took the sketchbook from his brother and peered at it closely, inspecting the details. He was definitly the artist, he could tell.

"I think...that it's us." He said finally still staring at it. The two brothers where huddled up against each other, Nathan seemed to have his arms around himself, who was curled into a ball.

"What's going on?" He asked for no one to answer. Nathan watched him carefully as he dropped the book on Nathan's lap and ran his hands over his eyes and through his long black hair.

"Maybe those two men will come back for me and you just happen to be there?" Nathan hypothesized, as he started rubbing his neck in worry. This whole thing was far to bizarre.

"But it looks like your protecting me!" Peter shot back. Nathan sighed looking down at the sketch again. "Well I am your older brother. I am suppose to be the one protecting you anyways." Nathan replied simply, picking up the sketchbook once more.

"There's more." He said after turning the page to find another drawing. His confused face changed into a mortified one.

He couldn't even voice what he was seeing. What looked like to be himself lying in a pool of blood? (It was hard to tell when done in pencil). A right through the center of his head. His body was in the foreground, in an unusual position, his hands and feet were tied. In the background there were two figures. One on his knees and another standing over him with a gun pointed. Even if his back was facing him, Nathan knew that was Peter.

Peter stole the sketchbook away from him and looked at it. His confused expression also changed into the same one Nathan wore. He through the book down as if it burnt him.

"That can't be the future." Peter growled defensively.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Author's Note: **__Oh just to give you a skinny quick, at the moment Peter only has the ability to fly and paint the future (He hasn't absorbed anything else yet XD)_

_**Padfoot-rawr:**__ I like cliffies alot (well after theres the part after, but the waiting hurts I know...) anywho the wait is over for that particular cliffie. XD_

_**ShaolinQueen:**__ yea I was trying to set up the events and baseline of the story in that chappie XD_

_**marinawings: **__thanks mate, XD_

_**sami1010220:**__ the future isn't set in stone XD_

_As you can tell I like 'XD' as a smilie...XD_

_ENJOY!_

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After much discussion that was going no where, they retired to their respective corners. Nathan had stayed stationary on the bed the whole time, but Peter snatched up the sketchbook and hurried out of the room.

What it really came down to was, there was no sense of time. No indication of when in the future these events could take place, could be a day from now, or even three years. It was hard to tell, and all they had to go off of was the four day period for the first set of drawings that depicted Nathan's experience.

After sitting there awhile, brooding with his head in his hands, he settled into a restless sleep.

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The elder Petrelli awoke with a start, a thin film layer of cold sweat covered his face as he caught his breath. His dreams riddled with the terrible misfortunes of how they could possibly end up in the positions depicted in the prophetic drawings. None of them were all to pleasant, and more often then not quite the opposite.

He sat up and rubbed his face, running his hand through his now greasy mangled hair. He definitly needed a shower. He needed a distraction, and a shower proved to be something that could handle that job.

Nathan swung his feet over the edge of the bed and stood up. This time having far more success then the previous attempt. He took a step, but was pulled backwards towards the bed. He had completely forgot about the random wires tying him to the bed and also going into him. He removed the oxygen feed from around his nose and put it on the bed, then set to work on taking out the IV without causing himself any external damage.

That was easier said then done. After a couple of seconds fiddling with it, Nathan just yanked it out, causing a small droplet of blood to form where the IV had been. He put his other hand on top of it and began to rub it, the small blood was smeared around on top of his hand as he glanced around, in an attempt to remember where Peter's bathroom was.

He stumbled into the living room and found Peter snoring softly on the couch. The elder brother smiled weakly, taking the blanket that had barely covered his brother and draped it over his shoulders. He watched as his brother unconciously curled himself into the blanket while still asleep, it was kind of cute.

Nathan watched him for a second longer before he began to rifle through the apartment in search of the utensils he would need to take a shower. After finding a clean towel, and a pair of Peter's flannel pajama pants, a pair of his boxers and a grey t-shirt. Luckily the two brothers were of relative size and build, so the cloths would fit, except for maybe the pajama pants may come up a little short, but at the moment Nathan did not care.

After locking himself into Peter's bathroom he laid out the utensils he gathered in a precise manner, liking things to be in order, and set to work. He turned on the water in the shower to a luke warm temperature, then discarded his pair of pajama pants that he had been wearing for the last three days straight. To say they smelt was an understatement, it was completely unsanitary by this time. He was glad to rid himself of them now.

He then carefully removed the bandage on his back, examining the small blood stain on it for a second. Nathan turned his back to the mirror, and looked back at it. The wound was small, almost pin size now. It looked rather clean and sterile compared to the rest of his body, and seemed to be healing quite nicely.

Peter did seem to do a good job at keeping the wound from being infected, he was a fantastic nurse. Though Nathan would never admit this openly, he was glad Peter never choose the route their father wanted him too. Peter wasn't the shark that Nathan was. He was much better at this nursing thing, and it fit his personality perfectly.

Nathan sat infront of the mirror for a second, reflecting on Peter as a nurse, before getting back to what he intended to do; take a shower. He pulled the washcloth out from underneath the towel and gently placed it over the wound, not really wanting to feel the torture of the water coursing down into it. He held it in place as he climbed into the the shower and dunk his head underneath the running spout.

The water felt so refreshing, He couldn't quite describe it. It was soothing and relaxing, washing his worries away even just for a millisecond. Once the washcloth was wet on his back it clung there well enough for him to let go and begin scrubbing himself with a bar of soap. It took him a good few minutes to finally be satisfied with the cleanliness of his skin before he began on his hair, using the shampoo and conditioner that was already in the shower with him.

After an half an hour he finally removed and dried himself thoroughly placing clean cloths on his bare skin. He felt like a new man almost as he stared at himself in the mirror, slicking his hair back with a comb that was sitting on Peter's sink. He didn't even worry about putting a fresh bandage on, he wouldn't be able to reach well in that area of his body anyways.

He opened the door to the hallway and was confronted with a very irritated looking Peter. Nathan looked at him calmly.

"What?" He asked innocently. "Next time you want to take a shower, Warn me! You weren't suppose to get water on the bandage, did you even take it off?!" He growled. "I took it off before I got in the shower. I'm not a complete imbecile when it comes to medical things, Pete." Nathan shot back, moving past him and into the living room. Peter stalked after him.

"Sit down on the couch so I can get a fresh bandage on it." Peter ordered. Nathan turned around to look at him. "Fine." He sighed before moving over to the couch and plopping down. Within a minute he felt Peter drop down beside him, and heard various items drop to the ground beside the couch.

Peter almost roughly pulled the grey shirt up so he could see the the injury. Natahn winced a bit as his younger brother prodded at it and eventually put a square of gauze on it, fastening it down with four strips of medical tape. As soon as the shirt was lowered back to its resting place, Nathan turned around to Peter.

"I'm not going to be your hostage anymore." He said plainly, getting to his feet once more. "I can take a deep breath now without coughing, so you don't have to worry." Nathan said, then demonstrated for his younger brother. Though the exhale still sent a painful shudder in his chest, he was able to prevent himself from a even worse hacking session.

"Alright. I'm gonna try and get an inhaler for you though." Peter sighed. The elder Petrelli brother glared at his brother with narrowed eyes. "I don't need an inhaler." He said calmly but with underlying anger.

"Its just in case. You know breathing is important Nathan." Sarcasm was thick in that statement. Nathan sighed heavily, shaking his head then turning towards the door.

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The congressman opened the door to his own domain, and smiled after closing himself inside. It was good to be home at last. He heard his boys playing upstairs, as he moved through the lower level. He found his wife in the sitting room with a book in hand. She looked up just as he entered the door frame.

"I'm home." He said moving towards her. She set the book in her lap and began to roll towards them, until they met in the middle of the room. Nathan dropped to his knees and embraced his wife in a loving hug that he had been wanting to do since he saw her the other day. Heidi returned it, holding him tightly, but all too keenly aware to avoid touching his injury.

"I missed you." She whispered quietly into his ear, pulling back just enough to kiss him on the cheek. He returned the kiss as they continued the embrace.

It was only interrupted by the shouts of "Dad!" by Simon and a "Daddy!" by Monty. He pulled back from Heidi and turned around just in time to have his two children tackle him in a playful way.

He bit back a yelp in pain as Simon and Monty hugged him tightly. "Hey guys." He greeted them breathlessly, but able to wrap his arms around both the kids.

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The rest of that week came and went by fast. Nathan did not even realize four days passed since he had been home until his mother called him to inform him that the speech was still ago for the next day; Monday.

He spent that whole day preparing for it, making sure he knew it all well. He needed this speech to go well if he was going to have any chance of winning the election.

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"Mr. Petrelli, Your ride is here." Natahn turned around and found his security detail looking at him. Nathan nodded, grabbing his briefcase and headed towards the man, who in turn lead him to the black SUV sitting infront of his office.

Today was the big day, the life or death speech of his election campaign. A good speech would hopefully close the gap between him and his rival, a bad one would put him in a position of no chance of recovering.

He found himself rather nervous, which was a first in a very long time. He continuely flipped through his notes, not even paying attention to his surroundings.

It was a full ten minutes before he realized they should have been there by then. He glanced up at the driver to find it was no longer the same driver he had recognized from before. Before was an elderly black man, but now it was a young brown haired white woman.

"What's going on?" He asked edgely setting his papers down beside him and leaning towards the front seats, closer to the strange woman. "Where are you taking me?" He asked.

"Don't worry, Mr. Petrelli. Just finishing the job." Nathan's eyes widened in shock and fear at the same time. He wasn't one for showing emotion, but the feeling of dread was overwhelming. He knew this woman had to be with the people who were tried to kidnap him from before. He had to think quickly.

Without much consideration for his own well-being physically he opened the back car door and jumped out of the moving car. He hit the pavement hard, grinding into his back first, then rolling a little bit. He felt his old wound re-open and his cloths being pulled away in various areas by the pavement. Before he even was stationary on the road everything went dark.

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The next time Nathan awoke, He gasped in pure agony as all his limbs cried in protest. It felt like alot of his skin was removed from that little stunt in the car. His cloths were tattered and tworn, and his shoes were removed.

He felt a hand grasping his weakly as he dared to open his eyes and look around. He found himself in a cold damp cement room, and he wasn't alone. His eyes fell upon an equally terrible looking Peter laying next to him. A huge gash in his forehead, and his free arm nuzzled closely to his chest, like he was protecting it, like it was broken.

_Shit._


	6. Chapter 6

After his eyes adjusted fully to the dark room, He was able to look more closely at the state Peter was in. He was asleep, persumably, hopefully. His eyes were closed, and blood was dripping down and over them slowly from the gash that had to be at least two and a half inches long above his right brow. His skin seemed pale even under this lighting, and it gave him a bit of a death-like quality. Only thing that signaled life from the body next to him was the subtle movements of his chest rising and falling. Peter also had a black eye, at least he showed some resistance.

As the inspection continued, Nathan confirmed a broken arm. The forearm that was snuggled against Peters' chest was bent in a very unnatural fashion. About half way between his elbow and his wrist it jerked over to the left, no longer a straight line like it was suppose to be. What made it worse was he could see a jagged bone extended outside the skin. The are around was darkened with what he assumed was blood.

"Peter..." He gasped, trying to wake him. Nothing. Maybe that was for the best, his injuries looked intorable, probably passed out due to them.

Nathan then examined his own condition. Most of his pain was located in his chest, the hissing that accompanied the bullet wound merely days ago returned, the pain to take in and let out a breath was far more intense then he had felt before. He could feel blood trickle down from the various scrapes on his arms and chest.

The odd thing though, now that he was thinking a bit more clearly from when he first came to, was the numb feeling from his legs. It was like the absence of feeling... He knew he should at least have felt pain down there from the road burns and scrapes. It wasn't like his legs avoided it entirely, that would be impossible. He lifted his head with a little effort, they were still there, bleeding as much as the rest of his body, but he felt nothing.

His breathing quickened, causing him to wheeze as he started to panic, for real. He couldn't feel anything from the waist down. That wasn't right, he closed his eyes tightly as the pain increased in his chest as he started to cough.

His hands grappled to the one side, trying to get himself onto his stomach, to try and breath easier. He couldn't stop coughing. He once he was on his stomach, he struggled to put some room between himself in the floor as the coughing continued, blinding him with agony. Angry pain filled tears streaked down his cheeks he finally dislodged whatever he had seemed to be coughing on. Nathan stopped finally catching his breath mildly. Nearly half the agony he was just in subsided.

He opened his eyes slightly to see what he had been choking on, to see small specks of blood splattered on the ground below him. _Fuck. _ He glanced down at his legs again, to find them in the same place he had left them, his body was twisted in a weird fashion as half of it was on its stomach and the other was on the back.

_Fucking paralyzed, Great._

He pushed with one arm to get back into a laying down position, and snorted. He recalled what he had done to attempt to escape the woman. He remembered hitting his back really hard, it took the brunt of the damage, obviously. He closed his eyes tightly and started to bang the back of his head against the ground repeatively in frustration.

They were up shit creek without paddles.


	7. Chapter 7

_**Author's Note:**__ Sorry guys, Chapters 5 and 6 are technically one chapter...and in some strange string of circumstances they got cut up and had to be posted as two...O.o? Very long...Very weird story with that, but yea. I'm in a writing mood lately (probably caused by the responses i'm getting from this story, its gives me good reason to keep going to please you fine people) XD_

_**ShaolinQueen:**__ I can see chapter 6 still? O.o, and I am sadistic as well, Can't you tell? lol (I tend to stick to one character carnage throughout the fic, but I think i might spread the agony around a lil... XD) _

_**Padfoot-rawr:**__ I write what I see in my mind... XD_

_**HeroMimic:**__ Thanks for readin' mate XD_

_**Jensen: **__I'm sorry? Nvm, no i'm not. I love doing that ... XP_

_**Marinawings: **__thanks mate, Glad yer likin' it XD_

_ENJOY!_

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He hit the back of his head against the floor repeatively, until he was certain he had probably given himself a concussion. Though it did nothing to really help the situation, It did somewhat make him feel better in a very weird masochistic way.

Once he had gotten that little idea out of his head he just lay there, trying to breath in a way that was not painful, which he decided a good ammount of time later that it was impossible. He settled for short quick breaths that seemed to alleviate some pain on the process, though it was tiring.

Didn't peter tell him that he should have an inhaler after the first accident? He growled silently, closing his eyes trying anything to keep his mind clear. What he would give to fall asleep or pass out now, escape this purgatory.

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After an unknown stretch of time later he heard a door open. He twitched and took in a deep painful breath, starting to cough. He just barely manage to move quick enough to twist his upper body so his face hit the ground.

The whole process was unbearable, but who ever was making the decisions upstairs decided he needed to stay awake. As he was coughing he caught a glimpse of a man coming over to him and Peter who was still asleep, curled into a ball now, protectively around his broken limb.

Nathan instinctly pulled himself between the man and Peter. Older brothers protected their younger siblings whether they wanted to or not, it was just nature.

"Get out of the way!" The man said staring down at Nathan who was still coughing, but managed to maintain his feeble attempt at a human wall between him and his brother. It did not even occur to him that what he was doing now was exactly what happened in the first drawing.

"No." He rasped between coughs. He couldn't make out the features of the mans' face because the light was shining in the room from behind him, making him look like a sillouette. He felt a strong hand on the collar of his shirt and suit, thrusting him backwards then forwards, pulling him up.

"We're trying to help him." The man said quietly. Nathan glared at the shadowy face, making a pitiful attempt to look fearsome in his weakened state.

"Your...not...gonna...touch..." Nathan gasped, trying to get in enough air to speak normally, but it was all just too much. "Shut up." The man said pulling him aside, clearly away from Peter, then unceremoniously dropping him to the ground.

Nathan could do nothing to prevent himself from colliding face first with the ground, thankfully the darkness finally took him.

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"Nathan? Come on wake up, please." He heard a male voice calling to him from the fog, He didn't want to leave the fog though. He turned his back on the voice, not wanting to return to reality...to pain.

"Don't die on me, Please. Nathan." The voice was working though, much to his dismay, the voice was dragging him back to the world of pain.

"Thanks..." He growled with a weak voice, the pain pentrating from the edges of his mind, marching straight to the core, causing him to gasp when he tried to breath normally like nothing happened.

He felt a object forced into his mouth again. A puff of concentrated oxygen penetrated his body, it felt soothing somehow. The agony of his lungs expanding and shrinking was there, not quite as much it was though. There was another puff then, and he relaxed a little more.

He finally dared to open his eyes a little bit. He saw Peter staring back to him with worry written over his face. That was clear even in this dim light. What was strange though, was he had no injuries. The gash was gone, his broken arm was miraculously healed. What happened?


	8. Chapter 8

_**Author's Note:**__ WEEE!!! XD_

_**Padfoot-rawr: **__thanks mate, glad your enjoyin things XD_

_**Shaolinqueen:**__ things will be revealed...shortly XD_

_**Jensen: **__nope, claire and peter don't know each other yet... XD_

_ENJOY!_

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The inhaler was pulled away from his mouth, leaving him gasping for air painfully. He eyed the small thing up begging with his eyes for it back, but somewhere in his mind he wanted to figure out what happened, and for that to happen he needed to speak.

"Your...healed...?" He gasped weakly as Peter wrapped his arms underneath Nathan and proceeded to half drag him to a wall so he could sit up, leaning against the wall. Safe to say he left a blood trail from where he once was to where He had been moved.

Though he had done nothing physically in the move he was exhausted by the time he felt the cold hard cement wall against his back. Peter sat down next to him and took a deep breath, hopefully he was going to answer Nathans' question before the elder passed out again.

"They brought me into a room with this british guy...He told me his name was Adam. " Peter started, his eyes looked like they were searching for the right words on the floor and wall. Like they'd have the answers he was hunting for, Nathan thought quietly. "After a couple of minutes, my injuries vanished, I was able to push my bone back into the skin and it healed instantly." Peter spoke, never once looking at Nathan directly.

If Peter said anything else, Nathan didn't catch it. Without that inhaler breathing was impossibly painful. His body refused to keep him awake.

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The next thing he was aware of was the feeling of being carried? Though he only felt a hand tightly rapped around his back, he was horizontal, presumably his legs were held by the other hand, hopefully. Only way to make sure of that was to open his eyes, but he didn't want too. Everything hurt so much.

"Hang on...Nathan." He heard Peters' rushed voice, sounded like he was running. What was going on. "Almost there..." It sounded like Peter was reassuring himself more than his elder brother. Nathan could detect the subtle fear within the adrenaline filled voice. Finally he dared to open his eyes an inch. He felt so weak, so tired, so pained.

He faintly recalled hearing a bang. He heard his brother cry in pain, as Nathan himself slipped from his younger brother's arms. He hit the floor, rolling onto his back from the momentum. The amazing thing though, through all the agony that he was experiencing, he could only think of Peter. He had been shot.

He groaned trying to move, ordering his failing body to move, but it wasn't listening. It went on its own accord, shutting his concious down.

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He thought for sure the last time he came around was the moment Peter was shot, but his physical body apparently wanted to keep living. His mind on the other hand just wanted to shut down until he was either dead, or loaded with a shitload of pain medication. Either or seemed like a fine idea.

Sadly, he came back to the world of pure agony once again. He felt his hands tied behind his back. He opened his eyes to find a barrel of a gun pointed at his forehead, from a few feet away. He didn't have the energy to even looked terrified, he just stared at it with glazed over eyes.

"There's got to be another way" He heard a male voice, Peter. "Sorry, mate, You are the one who's not doing what he's been told." A foreign british voice said. Persumably the one pointing the gun at Nathans' head.

"I can't do anything, I told you this. Please Don't do this!" Peter cried in vain. "You have all this power, and you can't even call on it on command. Your weak!" The british voice growled, and a gun shot rang out.


	9. Chapter 9

_**Author's Note: **__Muehehe XD_

_**ShaolinQueen: **__Your wish is my command XP_

_**Winchester-Jackson-Petrelli:**__ no probs mate, the fact that you even commented once means alot to me. Thanks for readin'. And yea I thought about it being Candace just torturing Nathan, but decided the whole Adam arc was to fun to pass up XD_

_ENJOY!_

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Death was never what one expected. They hear all these versions of what happens when the brain shuts down, and all seem plausible enough. Walking down a dark tunnel to a bright light, hovering over ones' own body watching themselves in their last seconds of life, etc.

Nathan saw himself, blood and all, and Peter staring at him shocked. It was a strange feeling watching your own body falling backwards with a bullet hole right in the center of his forehead.

His view wandered towareds Peter again who was looking at this man hovering over him now with the very same gun pointed at his younger brother's head. And with sickening realization, he knew this was the drawing from before. Exact down to the very positions.

He cried out to stop the man, but he was having an out of body experience, no one living heard him. Nathan watched with astonishment as Peter broke from his bonds and went straight for the neck of Nathans' assailant.

"DIE!" Peter yelled at the top of his lungs, and in a blinding rage tackled the man, retreiving the gun and unloading the whole magazine in the man, rending him supposably dead.

Nathan had never seen such rage in his brother, in anyone. It had been like he was possessed. It was frightening almost. He watched as his brother scrambled over to his own corpse, franticly hunting for any sign of life, any sign of hope.

He would have stayed longer, forever if he could, but a mysterious force was pulling him away. All went dark again.

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_Beep. Beep. Beep._

That was the first thing he recalled, followed by the sense of numbness. He was alive. How that was possible he didn't know, nor cared at the moment. He opened his eyes slowly and saw he was actually in a hospital room this time around.

"Nathan?" He heard a male voice. His eyes sluggishly to find an unfamiliar face. His deep concerned eyes, crooked smile, long black bangs falling over the one eye. He stared at him longer, but nothing.

"Hey..." He said again. Nathan felt as though he should know this person, but nothing. He went to try and respond, but nothing happened. He just continued to stare blankly at the man sitting across from him.

He closed his eyes again, reaching for something anything. Anything tangible, any memory whatsoever. He came back empty, nothing. He couldn't even remember why he was in the hospital in the first place.

"Peter, I got you some coffee." A female voice this time, presumably talking to the man sitting infront of him. Nathan opened his eyes again and looked at the woman.

"Ma, He's awake." The man said standing up and and pulling back so the woman could come in. She placed a hand on his cheek. He just blinked blankly. Nothing was familiar about her either. Once again he tried to function, make any sort of noise, but nothing again. It was like his brain's command center had been on holiday, leaving him with no way to interact, or how to. Only his internal dialouge seemed to be working, reeling to try and find anything to explain why he was in the hospital.


	10. Chapter 10

After a minute everything came back to him. Names, faces, what happened up until He left for Las Vegas. Until those men were going to take him. He remembered running, and the gunshot, but nothing else?

He stared at his mother, intent on finding out what happened, then switched glances to Peter. His younger brother was so good at reading in between the lines...or no lines at all. Nathan could not quite voice his opinions, or make even gestures at it. All he could do was move his eyes, everything else his mind barred him against.

"Nathan, You had a stroke." Peter spoke, understanding what Nathan was begging for silently. "In Las Vegas, it was so hot. The doctors said your brain just short circuited." He explained.

Angela moved away, obviously realizing it was a much needed brother-to-brother talk. Silently she excused herself from the room, looking as though she had enough emotional wise.

"They found you unconcious in your hotel room after no one saw you for a day or so." Peter continued to fill in the blanks. "They almost weren't able to bring you back..." The last part was filled with thick layers of emotional stress.

Nathan only blinked, the information of all of it reeling around in his head. Peter pipped up after that, just sitting there and letting Nathan think. After a moment he remembered other things, things that didn't fit the story Peter gave him.

Being shot in the shoulder. Kidnapped. The man in the horn rimmed glasses and the haitian. Jumping out of the car. Paralyzed. Watching himself die, Watching Peter kill. None of it fit.

_Maybe it was a dream? But it felt so real. If it was real, Peter would remember too. _

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His doctor came by a short time later, examining Nathan. Asking questions, that Nathan answered correctly in his head, but not verbally. The doctor said something about all the connections in his head had been dismantled, and through some very tough and long rehab he would be able to return to normal.

Returning to normal seemed so far fetched in Nathans' point of view. His body was holding his mind captive, not being able to control anything, but the slight movement and blinking of his eyes. The whole thing was just so infuriating. He wanted to scream, destory something, do anything!

Now he was faced with the gates of hell. He had to go through those gates to reach the gates of the promiseland. Being what he was before.


	11. Chapter 11

_Enough, Candace._

The room morphed around him into the very cement room he had remembered being in. He glanced around to find himself tied up, and no sign of Peter. Just the woman who was supposably his driver to the speech he was going to give. His head ached, Everything was so frustratingly confusing.

Behind the woman was a man the same height as her. He had blonde hair and blue eyes, and was dressed in black casual wear. He was the one that spoke before, his distinctly british accent, Adam.

"What are you doing to me?!" Nathan growled with a hoarse voice, his deadly glare changing from the woman to the man and back to the woman again.

"Giving you a Glimpse. Mr. Petrelli" Nathan eyed up the man, unconciously struggling against the ropes that bound his hands together.

"A Glimpse of what?!" He questioned when the man did not continue. "A glimpse of what is to come if you don't play your role." He continued. Nathan coughed in fatigue, his headache was going to put him out soon, and he needed some answers. He could sort out later what was actually reality and in his head. The woman definitly had something to do with it though.

This could be another illusion too though. As sad as it was, He hoped this was reality. He needed something actually real at the moment, anything.

"What's my role?" He asked, starting to fade. His struggles with the rope died down, and his head began to sink down. "To let New York blow up." Nathan looked up at the man with widened eyes of shock.


End file.
